This project aims to provide a publicly, community-maintained, and well-organized database to collect Type Allocation Codes (TACs).
While other databases exist, they either don't provide the full data set (e.g. by providing a query interface with rate limiting) or are not maintained in a way that we consider helps the community (submission process cumbersome, data not cleaned/sanitized,...).

What is a TAC?

A Type Allocation Code (TAC) is made up by the first 8 digits of the so-called International Mobile Station Equipment Identity (IMEI) associated with mobile devices. Earlier versions of the 3GPP TS 03.03 specification defined it as 6 bytes.
The TAC is a unique identifier to determine the device manufacturer/model and its marketing name.
These records are allocated by certain groups and a full list of all IMEIs is maintained by the GSMA.

How can I access this data?

We provide a web-based interface to query the database here. However, you can get a copy of the complete database and build your own API/functionality on top of the data. In case you plan to perform a larger number of queries on this data set, plese make use of this.

How can I determine the TAC of a device?

There are different ways to determine the TAC of your device.
We will list the two most convinient ones. Another great summary of different ways to access this information for different manufacturers is available here.

MMI Code

By entering a special so-called Man-Machine-Interface (MMI) code into your phone's dialer, it is possible to acquire the IMEI and thus deduce the TAC by taking the first digits.

Open your dialer and enter *#06#.

For most devices, this will instantly result in a screen such as the below one. Some phones require additionally pressing the call button after entering the code.

Removing Battery

Usually, IMEIs are either printed on the box of the device you bought. Sometimes its also printed on a sticker attached to the device.
For phones that allow removing the battery, there is usually a label containing the IMEI and therefore the TAC under the battery.